A Sudanese farm could provide for more than Miller.
If he gets named ahead of a fit post or griff I'll spew up.
While we're at it can we please not play nahas, miller, jackson and tuck in Round 1
we shouldnt play anyone who butchers the footy in r1. so I agree that Jackson and tuck and nahas miss out.
The turnover stats from last year are interesting.
According to pro stats;
Jackson averaged 22.3 pos, 51% of which were contested and averaged 7.5 turnovers per game or once every three possesions.
Tuck averaged 25.7 pos (51% cont), 8.2 TOV per game (one in three )
that seems pretty bad to me.
but who is the benchmark?
Deledio?
25.3 pos (30% cont) 7.9 TOV (one in three)
Cotchin?
20.3 (64%cont ) 7.6TOV one in 2.7 (3?)
Martin?
20.5 (56%cont) 6.7TOV - 1 in 3
Even Arron Davey who i regard as one of the better ball users in the comp turns it over..... once every three disposals.
not having a swipe mate but every time a genuine criticism of a player comes up someone pulls up stats that suggest otherwise. for how long now have supporters rightly criticised jackson and others for their disposal or decision making. stats are useless unless the whole is taken into consideration.
an example dustin martin kicks a low flat pass to a target 50 metres away he has two or three opposition players near by but its not quite on the money and is chopped off. he would pull this pass of 6 or 7 times out of ten.
luke mcguane gets the pill but kicks a slow high kick 45 metres to a team mate in space . it becomes a contested ball when it should have hit the team mate or at least been to advantage. yet mcguane is not credited with a poor kick or clanger. there are so many variables that the only true way of judging a players kicking efficiency is by watching for yourself.
heres one they dont keep stats for. what percentage of possesions does jackson stop prop and then take his time in moving the ball on when it should have been instinctively first option.ultimately he kicks to a contest usually where the opposition have the numbers
if really good kicks like martin conca cotchin deledio start playing it safe with their kicking then we are truly lost.
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Don't worry Claw, i can handle a different opinion without taking it as a personal affront.
I have to admit these stats really surprised me but I think they back up something i believe that happens, due to human nature as much as anything else.
A player who looks good when he kicks it will get more leeway for disposal errors than someoene that has an awkward kicking action and once a player gets a reputation , deserved or undeserved, as a poor kick they get jumped on ruthlessly for any discretion while with other players it doesn't even seem to get noticed.
The first NAB cup last year was a good example. Tuck was generally sound in his disposal that night, making one, maybe two glaring errors which bought about the same old tuck is a turnover merchant, while Martin on no less than three occassions, when free, inexplicitely kicked straight to the opposition on no less than three occasions and it was like no one even saw it. ( i know there are valid reasons for this - first game etc). Jowlel Bowden was one who always looked good when he kicked it but generally seemed to escape criticism for the amount of times he managed to hit up the opposition when under no pressure.
The difference of course, as you alluded to, between these players is how creative they can be with ball.
Jackson is just a dumb footballer, something he has basically admitted himself ( not those words) and Tuck is not much better.
Early on Hardwick said that once players get to this level you cant really improve their skills, but you can improve their decision making. Initially i was sceptical about this, but i do believe you can, but only to a certain point. ( i think if you look at the players drafted this year they are all good decision makers, so i think dimma realises that) Basically his theory is that if you drill the game plan into the players over and over and over and over, it takes out a certain element of decision making for the Tucks and Jacksons of this world. They will never be able to influence a game like a cotchin or martin, but they can be serviceable, particularly if given a role that is suited to them. Tuck in particular you could see a big improvement in when he had the ball last year. It was only late in the year he started to revert back to his 'just put boot to ball' caper, which coincidentally was about the time his brother went right off the rails.
I don't use such stats in an attempt to claim that tuck and jackson are as good as those others, just that the perception of them being 'butchers' is not with the foundations that many believe and i'll admit i'm guilty of that with Jackson . I was genuinely surprised to see even Tuck and Jackson turn it over every three times, but more so to see those I regarded as good users turn it over just as often. I doubt too many would would say 1 in 3 if asked how often delidio martin and cotchin turn the ball over.
I know you generally discount stats, but stats themselves don't lie, it's just that they can be used in misleading ways by people.It 's people that lie.
As a note Nahas approached 1 in 2 so i doubt too many will pooh pooh that stat